James Harrison poses for Men's Journal during a controversial interview where he rips Ben Roethlisberger.

Everyone who knows anything about the NFL understands James Harrison and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell are a green mile away from becoming BFFs.

Google the history of James Harrison fines for more information about their rift.

But James Harrison thought it was a good idea to put an exclamation point next to his hatred for Goodell in an August article for Men’s Journal, which is expected to be released Friday. In fairness, this interview could be a few months old, but we know for sure this took place after February.

How do we know? Well, because he ripped his own Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for his 2011 Super Bowl performance.

“Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”

Ouch.

Harrison is certainly entitled to his opinion. And I’m guessing he wasn’t the only Steelers player who felt that way after Ben Roethlisberger’s mediocre Super Bowl performance and there’s been more than enough evidence revealed over the past year that Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t exactly the most liked guy on the team before his alleged rape scandal.

But publicly criticizing a teammate, and one nonetheless who helped you win a few Super Bowl rings, is crossing the line. It’s one thing to deal with chemistry issues behind closed doors, but when you start airing your dirty laundry to the world, now you’re exposing a major vulnerability to your NFL opponents.

Teammates don’t have to like each other. But they should respect each other.

ESPN NFL analyst Cris Carter said he wouldn’t be surprised if Roger Goodell fined him for his nasty comments about the commissioner and that Harrison’s comments about Ben Roethlisberger were a “big deal.”

“I’m sure he’s surprised to get criticized by James Harrison especially in the offseason,” Carter said. “This is not a smart thing, especially by a veteran player.”

As a journalist, I appreciate Harrison’s honesty, but I’m sure the Steelers organization would a preferred a bit more discretion.

On another note, what are your thoughts on the above Men’s Journal photo with James Harrison holding guns? Something tells me Roger Goodell isn’t too happy about the image of a big, burly football player holding, not one, but two guns across his chest.

Rex Ryan and the New York Jets were toe-licking good Sunday in their defeat of the New England Patriots Sunday. Not only did the Jets back up all their trash talk, they knocked out the leading candidate for the NFL MVP race Tom Brady.

Don’t get me wrong. One game shouldn’t define an entire season. Despite the loss, Tom Brady has still been one of — if not — the best player this season leading a fairly inexperienced Patriots team to the divisional playoffs.

But now that Brady and Michael Vick are out of sight, out of mind, it’s time for us to discuss a possible new MVP candidate; Ben Roethlisberger.

Let me beat the peanut gallery on this, I know he missed the first four games of the season due to a suspension for a violation of the NFL personal conduct policy and out of the three remaining quarterbacks in the NFL, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers have better quarterback ratings in the postseason.

It wouldn’t be an off-base assumption to think a quarterback will likely win the MVP award this season. So in light of that, we can at least entertain the idea of Roethlisberger being in the MVP conversation — especially if the Pittsburgh Steelers advance to the Super Bowl.

Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t have the same meaty statistics as his counterparts, but he’s got the best intangibles. Down 21-7 to the Baltimore Ravens in the team’s AFC division playoff game Saturday, Roethlisberger engineered a classic comeback victory — despite the Ravens’ stellar defense. Keep in mind that the Steelers essentially have no experienced offensive lineman right now.

During the regular season, Roethlisberger finished with the fifth best quarterback rating behind Tom Brady, Phillip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick. He also had just one more interception thrown than Brady. And that’s with four games missing? Imagine the difference he could have made if he competed in all his games this season.

Should Big Ben and the Steelers beat the New York Jets, he should at least be in the conversation. After all, when it comes to the NFL, it’s not how you start but where you finish.